if you remember one week ago today, before he left for hawaii, the president came into the white house briefing room in the evening and basically said this is what the plan should be. >> the next few days i've asked leaders of congress to work towards a package that prevents tax hikes on middle corral americans, unemployment insurance for 2 million americans and lays the ground work for further work on growth and deficit reduction. that's an achievable goal. >> you can see three points, the president wants to protect the middle class tax cuts, forget about extending tax cuts for higher incomes but adds 2 million people about to lose unemployment if there's no deal, and then finally, some small spending cuts but punt the bigger ones like medicare reform, for example, until next year. the president thinks it's achievable. we'll see. >> as soon as the meeting breaks up we'll bring it to you live. if lawmakers cannot reach a deal by january 1 we could feel pain in our first paycheck next year, as in next week. for the millions of americans out of work, unemployment checks would dry up as w